The Heroes, The Giants, The Spartans
by Mr.Smooth0perat0r
Summary: Kurt-051 is sent to the Mass Effect Universe and theres some twists
1. chapter 1

_"Dont you know, hindgehead? Spartans never die."_

A ball of nuclear fire filled the structure which engulfed all of the Covenant forces that were tasked with capturing the inner part of the Shield World of Onyx. But before the nuclear devices could detonate, time slowed to even slower than a crawl. To Fortitude Everlasting 511, it was no small feat that slowing down time was something his makers had forged even if it was based from the creators of his creators. The purple glowing, floating orb of an artificial intelligence moved swiftly across the field of the alien conglomerates and had finally found the source of the radiation spike. Two nuclear devices being detonated by a Reclaimer. Upon detecting the Reclaimer, FE-511 took it upon himself to rescue the Reclaimer from his death and placed him in stasis before transporting him into another part of the facility. As FE-511 exited the chamber with the Reclaimer, he sealed it, entraping the hostile forces in to be devoured in a nuclear embrace. Just as the heavy doors sealed time resumed which helped to seal th fates of the ones inside. FE-511 had transported the stasised human supersoldier into one of its healing chambers. It is here where the ancilla placed the 8 foot tall man in a creamy whitish liquid. In this liquid, nanomachines, would repair and enter his body permanently. The nanomachines are to help increase the healing process at an alarming rate while also increasing his superhuman abilities by a factor of 8 which was to help the supersoldier to reach a baseline standard for Forerunner frontline infantry. The armor he wore, while primitive to not even classify as a Class-1 Combat Skin, was replaced to fit the outer designs of the standard Mk.IV MJOLNIR Armor System while keeping in line with being made of a newer metallic alloy that was extremely durable with a newer undersuit made specifically to withstand even Hardlight ammunition. The suit was also heavier than it once was which made it nearly 700 kilograms in weight and with a 346 kilogram supersoldier in it, the man as a whole would weigh in at nearly one tonne of pure soldier. The suit of armor had been upgraded with many software and hardware changes to a Class-12 Combat Skin to fit Forerunner Military parameters.

The weapons this Reclaimer had used intrigued the sentient machine. Not in technological amazement but in surprise that Reclaimers still used chemical propellant munitions and not those of their ancient counterparts that could breech the armor of a Forerunner Infantryman. So the ancilla took it upon itself to recreate the weapons of old. The tools of man that would have overcome his creators were it not for the Flood.

 _ZX-22 Particle Hardlight Automatic Handgun._

 _ZXU-77 Particle Hardlight Heavy Machine Gun_

 _XDR-13 Designated Marksman_ _Heavy Barreled Rifle_

 _TDR-24 'Yggdrasil' Close Combat Scatter Gun_

 _GYU-99 Railed Mass Accelerator Particle Rifle_

 _WPN-82 Multiple Missle Launcher_

 _MFE-7 Arganaut Non-Linear Rifle_

 _JZO-11 Adaptive Close Combat Sub-Machine Gun_

Within a few hours, everything had been completed. Now it was time to send him off. One of the directives of the AI made by the Master Builder of the Shield World was to send a soldier, particularly a Reclaimer, to the "other side" so to speak. He would deliver the supersoldier through a portal that was reverse engineered from Precursor Neural Physics. From there, a Reclaimer would be sent to assist in the advancement of another Humanity that crossed the veil of the portal. Why the Forerunners couldnt do it themselves was that they fear that the parasite would follow them or that they themselves would meddle too much with this other Humanity and would stagnate their technological and cultural growth.

 **2183**

Within afew hours the SPARTAN-II awoke with a jolt. His breathing heavy and wheezing as he tried to get his bearings. He scanned the room before he got up. His instincs told him something was wrong and he trusted his instincs from his time in boot camp which saved him and his team more times than he could count. The room was light grey in colour and had only the bed that he was once on. His armor, or what he thought it was, was on him which he didnt know if he should be at ease with the fact that he had a Mk.IV suit on or feel uneasy at the fact that he should have been in SPI-II armor and on the verge of death in a Foreruner facility with 2 nuclear weapons and an armada of Covenant forces. But instead he was here in a room with no recollection of when or how he got there. The door to the room had split open and a man in his navy blue uniform stepped in, the spartan could see that this man had a noticable scar on his face and solid blue eyes that had seen the wear of combat. His eyes trailed off to the insignia on the man's shoulder and his body stiffened and he saluted to the man before him but being an 8 foot 6 inch giant, he had to stare down at the Admiral.

"At ease son. Im not here to harm you. Hell, you'd probably kill me and most of my crew before we could do anything to you."

The spartan dropped his arm from a crisp salute and stood at parade's rest.

"Now before you ask, we found you drifting in Alliance space along with your weapons. We know you dont belong here, because any person with a sound mind would see how 'other worldly' you look. We couldnt scan past your suit so we had no clue if you were still alive. Your weapons are also a mystery to us, no matter how hard we tried to scan it or take it apart, they wouldnt budge and would actually fry some of our systems from a simple scan. So this made me come to a conclusion and if I'm right on the money then you could be our saving grace and if I'm wrong..." the Admiral paused before continuing. "So trooper, state your name and rank."

Kurt instantly replied with no hesitation in his voice and as if he had read it off a script that he'd practiced over and over. "Sierra-051, Lieutenant Commander of the United Nations Space Command and instructor for the S-III Program." Kurt had no hard feelings felt when he saw this man before him and trusting his feelings that had saved him more than once, told abit of information which should have been classified.

The Vice Admiral stared at the gold-tinted visor staring down on him. He thought for a moment and chose his words carefully. He smiled, "Its nice to meet you Spartan." he had his hand out for a handshake which surprised Kurt. _How'd he know who I was?_ Was what Kurt thought to himself. His body tensed and before he could react the Alliance officer held his free hand up. "Relax son. You're in a different universe, well... you cant relax after hearing that but before you begin a rampage through my ship..." The Vice Admiral slowly reached for something under his shirt and chained around his neck. He plucked it out and handed it towards Kurt to which he carefully took and saw what it was. It was a pair of old dogtags, UNSC dogtags. What surprised him even more was what was inscribed into them.

 _Rank: Vice Admiral_

 _Name:_ _Jeremiah P. Cole_

 _Born: 3.11.2470_

 _03956-26127-PC_

Kurt was wildeyed behind his orange visor. The man standing before him was one of Humanity's greatest heroes and was instrumental in holding back the Covenant war-machine ranging from the largest engagements of the war to the creation of the Cole Protocol to not allow navigational data to fall into the hands of the Covenant and to ensure that all space worthy vessels were to do random slipspace jumps before returning to heavily populated civilian centers.

"Its ok spartan, you're secret is safe with me. As to how you got here? Hell I wish I knew. You're lucky it was me who found you and not some other vessel, otherwise I'd feel sorry for those sonsofbitches who'd try and hold you down."

Cole was different, before being sucked into the current universe he resided in he had brown eyes and hair so of course he'd seem different now but it was his laid back attitude which troubled the spartan. He'd heard that Cole was an all-military man. Discipline and bravery was what got him through the war and where he was now.

Cole turned around and gestured the spartan to follow him. Kurt felt tense and unnerved at the situation. As they passed the halls and to the bridge, most of the staff gazed at the spartan. It didnt bother Kurt, he had gotten the stares before and had grown used to it. As they entered the bridge, Ambrose could see that it was an entirely different ship than what he had been on. No gun-metal grey, utilitarian and angular design. It had more curves and was visibly more appealing.

Cole stood at the center of the bridge. His XO spotted him and addressed his presence. "Admiral on deck!" They bridge crew got up and immediately saluted in near perfect unison, something Ambrose was impressed by. They crew wore bright and dark blue uniforms which were much more different than the grey and olive green colours of the usual UNSC Navy attire.

"At ease,.." Cole began to speak, not turning to face the spartan. "Its different from the UNSC isnt it? The Systems Alliance is this Humanity's governing body and military arm. They are so much like us yet they've technologically advanced far from what we were."

Cole sighed and asked the spartan. "I'm guessing you want a little history lesson. Don't worry, I'll fill you in." The spartan then stood beside the Admiral in silence as he nodded. "That day on Psi Serpentis, when we caused the gas giant to go supernova, I ordered a slipspace jump just before it happened..." there was a pause before the Admiral breathed and regained his composure. "The supernova apparently screwed with our slipspace vector and dropped us here. We were running dark and our slipspace drive had practically melted beyond repair. We thought we were doomed, drifting slowly in space with no way of FTL jump. It was then that a ship, one of the earliest spacefaring vessels of the Systems Alliance that came into contact with us." The Admiral halted his story knowing that Amborse had a question. "Sir, what year is it?" Cole turned to face the man and said "2185, 40 years since me and my crew arrived here." Cole stared out into the viewport of vast space. "Long story short, we were intergrated into the Systems Alliance military and after learning of our history, we were sworn to secrecy and preperations were made incase we had anything following us on the way here." The Admiral was hinting at the possibility of the survivng Covenant vessels doing the same as he did and got trapped in this universe. But knowing that the move he pulled was too dangerous for even the most foolhearty Fleetmasters to even try such a thing was out of his mind completely.

"My ship, the Everest, was a Valiant-class Superheavy Cruiser which is hidden in this Sol System's Ort Clound that has not been used by this humanity and is still undegoing repairs since the technological level of this universe hasnt begun to grow from where it is now apparently." Cole sighed before continuing. "So now me and my crew, mann this vessel. Its smaller than our cruiser but in this reality nearly e everything has been down-sized except for the Council's arrogance and ignorace to a threat that will destroy all civilization in the universe." The spartan was confused at the mention of the Citadel Council but held his tongue, knowing that the Admiral had more to discuss later. "This vessel is a 'dreadnought' at the length of 800m and a damage output of something similar to our old and outdated Frigates. This ship was named after my old one. She may not be much by our standards but she has some shielding to it." The Admiral turned once more before asking Ambrose a question that may change the fate of the galaxy. "Spartan, you have given up your life for the UNSC and Humanity as a whole." Cole stared into Kurt's visor and said. "I have no right in asking if you would give your service to the Systems Alliance. But I'd like to know, if you were asked once again to do it but for a different version of Humanity, would you do it? To protect the Human Race at whatever the cost?"

Kurt thought about it, this was not the UNSC but this was the Human race and he had devoted the entirety of his military career to defending his race. Honestly, he was tired of the fighting with the Covenant. Tired of reading the after-action reports of Alpha and Beta Company casualty reports. he was just tired of it all. Yet, before he could make his decision, he looked at the Admiral. The man before him had been fighting long before the war with the aliens and yet he hasnt broken at all, even at the loss of a third of his fleet in all his battles which resulted in thousands of deaths, he didnt flinch when it came in defending his race. That was because he became a symbol of hope for his people, the proverbial light in Humanity's dark future against a genocidal race of aliens. Kurt made his decision and saluted before asking "When do i start, sir?" The aged Admiral smiled. "Right away spartan." Immediately Cole began barking orders and everyone on the bridge began their work. "Comms, get me a secure line to The Illusive Man." The bridge crew did so and Cole's arm glowed orange and revealed a figure siting in an empty room facing a dying star with a cigar in one hand and a glass of scotch in the other. The man was dressed smartly, a dark grey coat and trousers, black shoes and a white collared shirt underneath, his eyes glowed blue and a chain hung around his neck with a pair of dogtags. The figure got up and greeted them both. "Hello Cole, or should I call you Hackett now? And it looks like we have a new player on the block. Greetings Spartan, I've heard about you from Ackerson. Shame really, you could be a valuable asset here. " Cole shook his head before speaking to the figure. "Enough Hopper, or should i also call you by your new name as well? Mr. Harper?" "The smug look from the figure died down before he asked Cole "So to what do i owe you the pleasure of taking the risk of calling me?" Hopper tool a sip from his glass as Cole gestured to the spartan. "Our friend here has agreed to help us defend this Humanity and needs a position and I think we both know where he'd be most suitable." 'Hackett' said with a grin on his face and to 'Harper's' dismay had actually grown a grin aswell. "Of course, I know just the ship to get him on."


	2. Author Note sorry

**Hey guys, thanks for following n reviewing. Sorry if the stroy seemed quick, i wanted it to have more quality and context and need a beta reader so i wont post some till maybe 3 weeks. The reason why i chose to have Hackett as Cole was because of how similar their ranks were and how they both have ships of the same name and it would be a good start to some future shit. Also I had him have connections with the Illusive man because of him being a former UNSC ONI member who was tasked in having Cole be reinstated. Hope to see more Spartan generations, no more than 10 and maybe some ODSTs and marines. All OCs except most Spartans. Now i know how you guys dont like author notes but i just wanted you guys to know that it will be awhile since im on exam week and engineering college is a bitch. Also Ill remaster chapter one after awhile so be ready for some updated chapters. Be safe and have a smooth day.** **-Mr.SmoothOperator (VoR)**


	3. chapter 2

Its been over a month since Spartan-051 has been in this universe. It was strange yet intruiging to him. A universe where the intergalactic society is dependant on other races and their dependency on a massless element that produced an effect on an object by reconfiguring its mass through either a positive or negative charge. This was dubbed as the "mass-effect" of an object and while it seemed like a great technological advantage, it was short-sighted to him. It produced a stagnant society who's reliance on this rare element was just plain idiotic with their mindset being one of a race that does not utilize it would be considered inferior and tecnologically backwater. Such fools. The thing that irked him the most was the human advancement in the universe. Humanity had grown to a technological standstill in its most important time in history were it would soon have developed the Shaw-Fujikawa Translight engine yet that wouldnt happen, not with the path they chose. He was peeved at the fact that Humanity had to abide by the laws of the xeno races. To forcibly reduce its naval might was disgusting to him and most of their dreadnoughts were only marginally larger than a frigate, nothing was amazing in terms of sheer size when compared to UNSC vessels. The "mightiest" ship in the xeno council's arsenal was smaller than a Phoenix-class colony ship. If this universe had encountered the war mongering theocracy that was the Covenant then this "galactic government" would be on its knees. Though the UNSC had no form of shielding such as those in this universe,

Kurt-051 was lost in thought to this as he checked and rechecked his armor system's suites. To say that he was the pinnacle of Human acheivement in this universe was an understatement. Whatever the Forerunner AI did to him, it changed him. Physically, he was standing at 8 and a half feet without his armor on. He was always a big boy, and the one to be considered kindhearted and the most sociable of all the Spartan-IIs. This made him different from the rest which showed that he was an aspiring leader and was believed by his former trainer Mendez that he could have even lead the entirety of the program into combat with deadly proficiency.

Looking at the olive green suit of armor, Kurt grinned slightly. The armor before him reminded him of when he was first issued the Mjolnir Mk.IV. It looked bulky, angular and heavy and truth be told he'd be over a metric tonne in it. After initial testing with Alliance RD, his suit was able to take on several direct hits from Mako APCs and airstrikes from heavy caliber guns but it didnt mean he stood still during all those rounds impacting him. His body ached slightly as he was thrown around from the impact of the heavy rounds. This universe maybe different but Newton's Laws still apply and he experienced himself flying from direct impact from the rounds. His shielding stood and when deactivated, they still took the beatings without a scratch. The only thing that affected the armor were the scorch marks from explosive warheads.

As Kurt ran his hand down the suit he could remember the feeling of reading the after action reports of Alpha-Company and Beta-Company. If they had been given Mjolnir instead of SPI armor then many of them would still be alive to fight for another day. Fucking ONI treated his spartans like goddamned sacrificial lambs. But he himself couldnt blame them, there was the grey area of the war. The needs of the many outweighed the needs of the few. He wondered what happened to Noble Team after pulling those that were Candidate-II certified, out of the suicidal operations. He clenched his fist on the armor as he remembered so many faces that he would never see again. The death of his spartans would always hit him hard, he just cared too much.

He brushed those thoughts aside and stood back, spreading his body in a star position. From learning the armor systems he had found an audio log that had taught the spartan on various things. The history of the Forerunners, Ancient Humanity and the Reclaimer responsibility. One of the many things were how to done his armor. The armor itself would hover momentarily before attatching itself to his body. Metallic plates clamped in place to the undersuit he wore. When all the plates had locked and sealed in place, the only place that didnt get covered up by heavy armor was his head. Mentally activating the nanomachines in his body, as taugh by the AI in the audio log, the extra layer of heavy shoulder pauldrons and neck braced armor retracted and encased his head. His HUD was online and everything in place, he made his way to the bridge of the dreadnought he was in. The crew still stared in amazement at the man. Even after a month of being on the ship and being a heavily classified entity with only Alliance HIGHCOM knowing his true identity just like Admiral Hackett and Jack Harper, he was classified as a soldier of a new program called SPARTAN branch and answered only to Alliance HIGHCOM and not the Citadel Council. Should they ask for him, the Systems Alliance government would make sure they wouldnt get him, not even a photo. As Kurt reached the bridge he saw the Admiral and saluted him before the Admiral spoke. "Kurt, I'm sending you on a mission of utmost importance. You are to assist Commander Shepard of the SSV-Normandy in her mission of finding evidence of the Reapers, an AI menace that wipes the galaxy here clean of any and all spacefaring species. Your true identity is to be kept from her at all costs and that any questions pertaining about you are to go to me. I hope you can live up to your name Spartan, coz I sure as hell wont trust the Citadel Council for help, even after sacrificing a whole one-third of a fleet to save their collective asses they wont assist us in policing piracy and slavery happening on our outer colonies." "Understood sir. I'll do my best." The scar-faced Admiral nodded. "Good, I take it you've read up on the officer you'll be under?" Kurt had read her file or rather _their_ file. The twin Spectres of Humanity, a title reserved for those chosen to be the Council's left hand. Being above the law and are able to do whatever they please as long as it gave the Council what they want then they wouldnt give a flying fuck about their methods, ethical or otherwise. The twins, Johan and Jenna Shepard, both were N7s, the best of the Marines special forces. Similar to Force Recon and almost to ODSTs, they were highly trained and very proficient having to be the "Butchers of Torfan", " Heroes of the Skyllian Blitz and Elysium" and even sole survivors of a giant xeno worm on Akuze. To Kurt they were good and could be better but that was yet for him to see personally. He'd read that the two had killed a rogue Spectre named Saren and had discovered the Reapers and although they became heroes and had warned of the Reapers, they were cast aside. Their warnings fell on deaf ears. From what Ambrose read on the extranet, which had too much information to be exploited by anyone, had shown that the twins had died with the original Normandy in 2183. But rumors surfaced of the possibility of them surviving with reported sightings on Omega, a station on an asteroid filled with criminals. Yet, reports indicate that only Jenna Shepard has been sighted.

"Yes, sir. I'll be ready to move on your go."

"Good, you'll be transported on a small shuttle with Spartan Edward Buck and the rest of the team before heading for Omega Station. From there you'll be under Commander Johan and Jenneve. You both will also take orders from the Illusive Man and while i have no love for that sunovabitch or his methods he's still a former UNSC asset. Your mission still stands, find out what happend to the colonies that have gone dark and to see if you can save any captured colonists, understood?"

"Understood, sir. Fireteam Black will do as requested. We'll save those missing colonists, sir. Whatever the cost."

Kurt saluted and marched his way to his quarters. As he reached the doorway he could see Edawrd Buck playing with his large, standard issue Spartan Combat Knife. Buck noticed the unarmored spartan commando at the doorway and greeted him with a nod.

It was a strange coincidence that Spartan Edward Buck had been invovled in this dimension as well. From what Kurt had remembered, the spartan was found on a volcanic world with him saying he was on a mission to apprehend Blue Team for insubordination and being AWOL. Of course when he had met Admiral Cole and Kurt, he'd told them what had happened in their absence and to their amazement and also disbelief, humanity had survived and was slowly recovering. The Sangheili and the rest of the former Covenant on the other hand had splintered and fractured with the Elites having another civil war after the Great War. The Brutes were off on their own activities, the Jackals were off to their pirating and the Grunts were just happy to be either left alone or helping the Elites or UNSC. The Prophets were sent into exile and most possibly hunted by the Elites. Basically humanity is slowly thriving while its enemies were quickly descending into chaos.

Going back to Buck's appearence in this universe and what he was tasked with prior to his arrival. He and Fireteam Osiris had tracked the AWOL Blue Team to a Forerunner world and from a brief struggle between the fireteam leaders with Agent Locke being attacked with his own armor locking device, the facility began coming down on them with a Guardian awakening. As Fireteam Osiris had ran towards a teleporter, Buck had struggled to keep up and nearly fell off the teleporter as he hung above the lava below him. Before he could pull himself up the teleporter platfom's anti-gavity genrator gave out and went into freefall. Just before Buck's feet had reached the lava, the teleporter malfuctioned and brought him to where he was found by Cole.

From there it took two whole weeks to give the former ODST a crash course on the current events in their universe and those in the one that they all currently reside in. Truth be told, Kurt was just glad he wasn't the only Spartan in this universe. Even if the other Spartan wasn't trained from the delicate age of youth to be the most efficient killing machine that Humanity had to offer to save itself from extinction.

It also took awhile to adjust Spartan Edward Buck to be in the same level as Kurt currently was. This meant an overhaul of his armor, augmentations and RoE(Rules of Engagement). Having instructions laid out by the Forerunner A.I. that was found in his armor, the nanomachines in his body could be shared with another human of Reclaimer status. This meant that he could remove a small amount of his blood that contains the nanomachines and program them to multiply and work on another Reclaimer, as long as there was sufficient raw materials and also the command authorised by the original host then the nanomachines could work their magic and set Spartan Buck to be up to the standards that Kurt currently was. Another interesting factor for reprogramming the nanomachines was that they could build and relicate any object give if they are provided the raw materials. This allowed Kurt to have Buck's Mjolnir armor systems and plating to be that on par with his own but the downside of it was that Buck would have to be out of his armor for over a week which was fine with him. The other problem wasn't really as much of a hurdle for Buck. The problem with people in the UNSC during the war was that they had shot at anything non-human and that had gone on for those born during that time. But for Buck it was more or less simple for him to understand, dont kill aliens and only kill those who shoot first, simple enough.

"So Commander, what's our mission?"

Buck seemed to be in a relaxed mood. His shoulders were slump, eyes seemed lazy with one hand toying with his knife and yet his feet were ready to spring him to action. Kurt stopped before Buck before snatching the knife that Buck flung in to the air.

"Fireteam Black is to meet with the two Commander Shepards on Omega Station. We take orders from them and the Illusive man qnd find out what happened to the colonists that went missing while also saving the galaxy from the Repears."

"You mean we are now working for a couple of dead siblings and a spook from our universe while also saving lives and stopping a hostile A.I. race that looks like a squid from killing all space-faring civilization? Hell if that was a propoganda video then you'd be able to fill the recruiting quota."

Kurt had pushed the knife onto Buck's chest knocking him down. Apparently he doesnt seem to appreciate smart asses.

"We're Oscar Mike, get armored up and meet the team at the hangar."


	4. Chapter 3

**Onboard the SSV-Normandy**

 **Several days prior to meeting Fireteam Black**

 **Enroute to Omega Station**

Jenna Shepard was in her quarters sitting on the side of her bed. She had a throbbing headache for days now and it hadn't gone down but it wasn't her fault. She had just awoken from her death bed few weeks ago and had been hit hard with information and waking up from the dead only to fend off an attack wasnt exactly a warm welcome back to the mortal realm.

She had been dead for two whole years. Shepard had found out that Cerberus developed the Lazarus Project just for her and her brother while they plunged in billions to bring her and her brother back. The Lazarus Project, a reference from the Christian Bible when Jesus brought Lazarus back from the dead. Cerberus wasn't the savior in this story. She was given more information on the project from her XO, Miranda. The bitch was a looker though and that would have stirred up Shepard's dead sex drive pretty quick if it weren't for her attitude and pridefulness. The things Cerberus did to her body, she couldn't believe it herself at first but it was to be expected. She was more synthetic on the inside than she was on the outside. As a bonus from the Illusive Man she was given slighly augmented strength and and slightly faster reflexes.

She had dealt with the issue on Freedom's Progress and had found out that a myth known as the Collectors had been the ones behind the attack on the human colonies. Well, myth or not, if they attacked a human colony then its more than enough of a reason to hunt them down.

Looking to the small table on her bedside, she grabbed a painkiller from its bottle and ate it with a sip of water that was next to the painkillers. The pain in her head just felt worse and the pills didn't seem to be working at all. To make matters worse Joker pinged her.

"Commander, the Illusive Man just pinged us. He's waiting for you on the QEC in the conference room."

She grunted and closed her eyes. She didn't want to deal with him right now and the timing couldn't be worse. She could feel some sort of primal rage growing. But before she could tell Joker to send a mesaage to the Illusive Man that he could suck her non-existant penis, she heard a voice beside her.

"Come on, Jenna. Let's not keep him waiting."

She looked up her shoulder to see a man with a white Alliance PT shirt, blue duty pants and combat boots with a pair of dogtags that hung from his neck. It was her brother, Johan. Dark brown buzzcut hair and deep green eyes with broad shoulders, thick forearms and biceps, he looked like any man that had gone through military training at 6 foot 2 inches tall. He was there for her when they were kids, when their parents died, when they went through training the 'N' selection. He was there with her throughout their service, being a Spectre with her side by side. He and her died together with the original Normandy that day. He was even there when they woke up from the dead. She loved him, more than what she wished between a brother and sister but he never felt the same way. She knew it wasn't right but she couldn't lie to herself.

She smiled at him and spoke

"Sure, Johan."

 **In the conference room**

Jack Hopper was rubbing his temple with his hand that held both his half smoked cigar and his almost empty glass of Scotch. He hated waiting but as he did he pondered on his thoughts, as a former ONI spook for the UNSC which he was now head of a "rogue agency" of the Systems Alliance.

News of Shepard's revival after the incident on Freedom's Progress had spread and yet there were some...complications. While physically she was fine but mentally? From Yeomen Kelly Chambers's psych-evaluation of her she seemed mildly sociopathic with schizophrenic and mild out bursts. She had even reported that she might have impaired judgement due to just waking up from her recent revival. She may be compromised from being in contact with Sovereign but he was not going to start jumping to conclusions. He had faith in her.

As he took a sip from his glass, the digital form of Commander Jenna Shepard appeard. Jack eyed her momentarily before beginning the conversation.

"Ah, Jenna. So glad you could finally pick up."

"Well if it wasn't for the fact that you're my only information gatherer on the Collectors activities, I would have told you to shove those cigars that you love to suck on to be shoved up your ass. But we all can't get what we want."

She didn't even try to be professional nor hide her spitefulness. Jack just sighed and ignored her childish behaviour before continuing.

"Jokes aside Shepard, I have a little gift for you in your fight against the Collectors."

Jenna raised an eyebrow in interest. This was getting interesting for her.

"Go on."

"I contacted Admiral Co-. Sorry, I meant Admiral Hackket. Told him about your revival amongst the living and that you need all the help you could get against the Collectors. In addition to me giving you a list of associates to recruit, this bunch is coming with you free of charge."

"Alright, where do I have to pick them up?"

Jack took another puff of his cigar.

"They'll be waiting for you on Omega Station. Pick them up before you go after Arcangel and Doctor Solus. For now they're your top priority."

Shepard folded her arms and _glared_ at him before asking.

"Are they marines? If they came from Hackket they shouldn't be abunch of trigger-happy thugs. I'd take any 'N' ranked jarhead over any other thug because atleast they follow orders and know discipline."

Jack just chuckled before finishing the last of his Scotch.

"They're more than marines Jenna and even better than that 'N' designation that the Alliance is so proud of. They'll help you save Humanity in more ways than you could fathom."

He puffed his ciger once more before taking a deep breath. He'd giver some minor details to ease her thoughts because from the glare and body language she was showing, she might as well have flipped him the bird.

"They're from a covert branch that no one else besides me and the Admiral are aware of. We were the ones who founded the branch before I broke off with the Alliance. They are the men and women who would put genetic modding of today to shame and their combat prowess has had their deployment lists go as thick as a law book. They only respond to their codenames, callsigns are 'Sierra' and 'Oscar'. You'll be able to tell the difference just don't be intimidated by them if they look down on you."

The Illusive man chuckled to himself at the thought of Shepard with her short stature staring at the overgrown Spartan Commandos. This got Jenna to having more questions on the Illusive Man than she had initially thought but before she could inquire anymore the call was cut. With that, Jack terminated the QEC and turned back to face the dying star. He poured himself another glass and thought about how this war would soon get more interesting.

 **On shuttle enroute to Omega Station several days later.**

Joker was relaxing in his leatherseated pilot's chair while drinking hot chocolate. They had nothing to do for the next hour as the ship cruised it's way to Omega Station. It was calming to Joker, hot drink in a cool cockpit on his leather chair listening to a classic song, 'Something's gotta give".

"Flight Lieutenant, Jeff Monroe. We will soon arrive to our destination. Do not fall asleep."

Welp, so much for peace and quiet. Joker hated the fact that he had to share his ship with the damn A.I. Shackled or not, he always hated A.I thinking that they'd rule over all organic life and after learning of the Reapers, that reality was closer than what he liked.

With an exagreated sigh, he placed the cup of hot chocolate down and lazily spoke to the A.I. with sarcasm that would have irritated any organic.

"Thanks EDI, I loved being reminded about that every 5 minutes."

"If that is what you wish then I shall remind you again in 5 minutes Flight Lieutenant."

Joker just sighed again and decided to watch some of his "extreme" pleasure content to relieve the stress, with the cockpit sealed of course. He rubbed his hands together and unzipped his pants.

"Welp, time for some alien hentai."

 **In Omega an hour later.**

Shepard got off the Kodiak shuttle with Miranda and Jacobs, she had a newer model of her N7 armor systems. While a replica made by Cerberus, it was a complete copy of the original meaning it wasn't that cheap crap that a black market volus would sell to you. She had a Carnifex handcannon on the hip, an M8 Avenger assault rifle and a Katana shotgun on the lower back of her. Jacob and Miranda had their standard loadouts as well and while they didn't need to carry weapons on them, this was Omega where crime is as ripe as a virgin.

Not even minutes of leaving the shuttle, they found dead bodies in the hangar. Thugs, a batarian and two turians. The batarian had some armor on while the turians had Blue Suns armor. Most likely security for their client. So much for security.There were no weapons on them and had good groups of two bullet holes in the chests of the turians with a single shot to the forehead, with the batarian having a broken neck. His armoured neck brace seemed as though a large hand had squeezed and broke through it before leaving a large hand imprint on the skin of his neck. The batarian got off easy by the looks of it, it seemed more of an execution to the turians. Their legs seemed to have been blasted off at the joints while running and judging by the long blood trail, they must have been dragged by something large .What made it more interesting was the fact that the faces of the turians seemd to have melted after the gunshot making then nearly unrecogniseable. Whoever they tried muscling on must have not liked it enough to kill them and taken their weapons. Aria wasn't going to like this.

 **30 minutes earlier.**

Sierra-051 was staring at his own omni-tool on his left forearm. It was easy to intergrate the thing onto his suit and had learned how to use it within a few days. The glowing device had a universal translator so it was easier for him ti deal with any non-humans. After reading up and being taught by the former Everest-crew members on the xenos species, they seemed more humanoid in appearence in comparison to the xenos that he once fought against.

He was standing in front of the Kodiak's side door with Spartan Buck on his side. Kurt's olive green and grey armor shined in the dim lighting of the shuttle while Buck's grey ODST-styled Mjolnir upgraded armor system made him look like a scaled down rhino. They were both taller from their nanomachine-induced augmentations that reconstructed their bodies but that didnt change the fact that the Spartan-IV was still shorter than the Spartan-II. Kurt was naturally large since the day he was augmented and standing at 2 and a half meters tall was something no other spartan in his class could beat. When he was modified and given armor upgrades he stood at 284cm tall making him larger, heavier and stronger. He could have fought a horde of Brute Chieftans with his bare hands if he wanted with how he was now.

Behind the giants in the shuttle were two marined...well, more than average marines. Sergeant Major Vass Fredrickson, approximately 6 foot tall, brownish complexion, buzz cut dark brown hair with brown yet tired eyes due to sleep deprevatiom from constant deplyments non-stop and at 42 he had the body of a man scarred from war. Big with broad shoulders and the body of a mountain man and the heart of a Chimera, he'd seen action from Dratheus IV to Callio II and even a survivor of the Jehrico V counter offensive. A marine, Force Recon, ODST and also an Orion. He was part of the original 65 volunteers and had gone through the augmentations. A veteran of insurrection and alien warfare with espionage training from being embedded with Special Operations Group under ONI Section-III, Gamma 2 Combat Applicatiom Division. The woman that stood beside him was Gunnery Sergeant Alison Traynor.

5 foot 10 inches in height, blonde short hair and a face that had seen death, destruction and sleepless nights in the burned out ruins of cities and a chisled body for a woman at 31 from combat and training. She was part of the second Orion class candidates and had been fighting insurrectionists and Covenant for years before being attatched to the _Everest_ with Vass and a few more Orions as security detail for Admiral Cole, now Admiral Hackett. Unlike Vass, she didn't get embedded with Gamma 2. Instead she got sent to Special Activites Division, SAD. Working for SAD was demanding and because of her work she developed mild schizophrenia and had been behind enemy lines on her own while under cover.

Both soldiers wore an updated version of the standard BDU that troopers serving on the refitted UNSC Spirit of Fire were wearing which was a standard light woodland camoflauge BDU under composite armor plates that were reinforced with nanomachines. While they didn't wear the colours of the Alliance it would make it more easier to not have them seem as though they had ties with the boys and girls in blue. They'd be mercenaries as their cover stories, former Colonial Alliance militia from the treminus colonies. They were also modified by the nanomachines given by Spartan-051 as part being an Orion/Spartan-Is, the deserved it. They had Energy shields that were made by the nano machines and while not as durable as what the Spartans had, they'd be able to atleast have a layer of defence which was coupled with Kinetic Barriers as a first layer and a Jackal-styled shield gauntlet on their left forearms. They had been in this universe longer than the spartans so their knowledge on the current universe was vital to the spartans if they were to complete their objective.

Vass spoke up with a grunt yet serious, no-nonsense voice.

"Commander, Lt.,since we're on Omega try to keep your weapons in check and heads on a swivel. Lots of criminals wanting to steal what you have and to not be underestimated. Orders are to find Commander Shepard and her squad."

The spartans just nodded without so much as a peep behind them.

"My advice, sirs, is standard RoE. Shoot unless shot at. No law enforcement on Omega, only mercenary gangs that try to police the innocents through extortions for protection."

Kurt and Buck didn't like what they were hearing and Omega seemed like a cess-pool for bullies and people who could do away with crime however they pleased. Reminded them abit of the Inssurection in the Outer Colonies where the police forces was corrupt and the independant military contractors were the people's only chance of security.

Alison gave her advice and the spartans took it in and placed their rifles they were holding on their back mag-plates but they'd keep their fingers close to the Forerunner sidearms clamped on their hips for close encounters if they sensed danger. Alison and Vass had done the same thing and were already ready to get off the shuttle.

The shuttle landed with a soft thud and as the doors hissed open the entire fireteam had taken a good look of their surroundings as they exited the Kodiak. They were in a narrow hallway and not 5 minutes of walking out an alien came to greet them. It was skinny and had large black eyes, digit hands and two horns on its head with a lightish grey skin complection. Alison's voice had pinged through the team's helmet radios.

"Sirs, its a Salarian. They are nimble, quick and intelligent with a high metabolism and a short lifespan of 40 years. Their government, the Salarian Union, is responsible for the Citadel Council's intelligence division known as the Special Tasks Group. Think of them as ONI, secretive and would fire first if it meant accomplishing their goal."

Kurt and Buck took that in to account and had their hands ready to spring. Both of them had read up on the the Citadel's races and its client races but it didn't hurt for a refresher. The alien showed no hostile intent as he walked up to the group and from the body language it seemed that he just decided to try on his little scheming. With its arms open wide it spoke with a gittery voice that you'd find on crack heads.

"Welcome to Omega, you're new here aren't you? I can tell fr-"

"Fuck off Jaroth, before I put you in a box to your friends at the Keep?"

Another voice appeared and this time it was a hoarser and deeper one. There was a humanoid looking alien with four eyes. It looked hideous to the spartans. Flanking the four eyed freak of nature that had sharp teeth that looked like large toothpicks were two avian looking xenos with digitigrade legs, two fingers and a thumb that were clasping what appeared to be rifles in their claws and wore blue armor with a white circle on their chest pieces. The leader of the group, the four eyed monster with razor teeth looked up at the spartans with a glare before eyeing on with a smug grin at Alison to which she internally shivered but held a stone face knowin that the Batarian was undressing and violating her with his eyes. She needed a shower after this. The guards were awed by the size of the spartans and tried hard to keep their cool. It wasn't everyday that you'd see giants that could be heavier and taller than an Elcor in heavy duty armor everyday.

"Sirs, no matter what you do don't be intimidated by the Batarian. They hate humans and have been raiding and slaving the colonies in the Terminus since the Skyllian Blitz. The Turians beside him are Blue Suns mercs, they work security and transportation of legal and illegal resources. Every turian goes through military service to be a citizen. They have good discipline."

Vass informed them before Alison spoke up.

"Sir, permission to cut the eyes and dislocate the jaw of the batarian?"

Kurt denied her request with a quick shake of his head and she just sighed internally.

The batarian looked up at Kurt with a disgusted look on his face which made him tighten his fist abit. It was something about that arrogance that made him twitch. The batarian seemed unfazed by the intimidating height and size of Spartan-051 and spoke as he looked back at Alison.

"How much for the slut from your freakshow you overgrown ape?"

That made the whole fireteam have a twitch in their eye. To immediately berate them and call one of their teammates a derogetary term made Kurt feel hate. Just as the batarian opened his mouth to add another insult, Spartan-051 grabbed his throat so fast that his brain didn't have time to process what happened while the rest of the fireteam unclamped and trained their sidearms onto the two guards with such unmatched speed that the turians had barely time to register what happened to their client. The batarian was chocking as Kurt's overly large hand squeezed slightly which was enough to cause the batarian to panic and struggle even more while his bodyguards had their weapons aimed at Kurt, albeit slow in their response. Spartan-051 lifted the arrogant batarian off the ground a good two feet off, high enough that he could see the batarian closer and face to orange visor.

"You...ack...overgrown primate! Put me..chk...down now human!...huk...Do you know who...I am?!..Who I...work for?! You'll be...dead if you try anything on me!!"

Kurt had to give the arrogant alien a little credit. He was still defiant and talked down to him while being choked by a near 9 and a half foot Spartan. But, Kurt didn't frankly care about what the batarian said and didn't like the fact that he spat at his visor. With that Spartan-051 labeled him and his guards a threat/obstacle and just like with any other that blocked his path to his objective he resolved it. A quick squeeze and immediately the feeling of bones snapping reveberated in his armoured hand before dropping the limp body to the ground. He fell like a sack of potatoes and with the turians standing still, frozen in fear of seeing a giant breaking the neck of their client without saying a word. Death by a single hand. They slowly the turned to looked at each other and noded before carefully disarming themselves and began to slowly stand back with their arms raised. Fireteam Black looked to their commander for their next move and he simply nodded his helmeted head. The two turians got the message and ran for their lives knowing they'd be executed. They were fast but not fast enough. Kurt pinged on the team's comms, "Take out their legs." Vass and Alison had aimed ther handguns and fired two shots from each gun in rapid succession. Both security guards screamed and howled in pain as their bones were shattered and left immobile. "Buck grab them and place them side by side next to the batarian." Kurt ordered and he followed without question. Edward had dragged them and forced them to kneel on their dismembered limbs. They were crying and begging to the fireteam. "Please human, we didn't fire a shot. We didn't even like the batarian bastard. We just liked the fat paycheck he gave us!" They were crying so hard for their lives that it became pathetic. The tower of metal and muscle of a man looked down on them and to the turians who were now kneeling on their wounded knees, the spartan seemed to grow taller and taller. The thought of letting them go had crossed his mind. They were hostiles but are now unarmed and have surrenderes. Standard proceedure would be to send off to any local police station for being part of a mercenary band that dealt in illegal activites. But since there was no sort of law enforcement it left him with few options. To him they were working for a criminal organisation. He was used to dealing with executing unarmed and surrendered hostiles in the past if they held no purpose. Ambrose opened up their comms. "Vass, Alison, get behind them." Vass and Alison did as ordered and unholstered their sidearms. It reminded them of Operation Trebuchet. Spartan Buck stood beside Kurt awaiting orders. Kurt turned away from the turians and walked past Buck but not before switching to a private channel to him. "Your call Lieutenant."

Buck had worked with ONI before so he knew what needed to be done. He looked to the Orions and turned on his external helmet speakers and uttered a single word. "Execute." The turians' eyes widened and before they could do anything 6 shots were fired in rapid succession with good profeciency. Two shots to the chest and one to the head of each of the security detail. The guns were too close for their kinetic barriers to activate and had inly their armor to protect them and even then it couldn't save them. The wounds inflicted by the sidearms were gruesome. Hardlight jacketed rounds containing liquid plasma was fired from their _ZX-22 PHAPs_. It had enough kinetic energy to smash through the guard's armor in the first two torso shots while the plasma in the rounds dispersed and melted the flesh from the inside. As long as a round had hit a target, the plasma would continue burning until it dissipates or melts through its target. A guaranteed kill. The unhelmeted turians had a large part of their faces melted from the rounds which left a gorey sight.

Kurt ordered his team to police their weapons and take any credits or information they had on them. They were solo and cut off from any sort of supply line until they could find Shepard. They proceeded towards the doors leading to the hanger bay exit and into the inner part of Omega but not before testing their strength on the fragile bodies of the dead group. As they emerged into Omega they were greeted with dull lights, dirty and dark brown metal flooring with buildings hanging from the ceilings. In front of them was a club with people lined up awaiting to enter with several guards on the perimeter. Above the entrance of the club was the name "Afterlife" in neon red lights.

The club was a place to do business for criminals and gang leaders alike with this club in particular housing the legendary _Queen of Omega._

The group had surveyed the area and scanned for possible threats the moment the doors had split open. By Kurt's count nearly everyone was a potential hostile with noticable sidearms and rifles in either hand or hip. He could feel his trigger finger twitch slightly while his body tensed at the amount of eyes slowly staring at their direction. Buck on the other hand seemed lax with Vass and Alison kept their eyes out for anyone stupid enough to try something.

Vass didn't like where this was going and spoke on the team's comms.

"Sir, we're starting to attract a small crowd. What's your order?"

Kurt thought of a few possibilites, hold up in an abandoned building and leave a trail for Shepard to follow, stay here and wait but attracting attention in a criminal hub isn't what they need especially with two large armored behemoths. He wasn't sure which option would yield in the most favorable outcome so he asked, "Anyone got any bright ideas?" As quickly as he asked Buck finally spoke "Kurt, you and me go into hiding while Vass and Alison will be our eyes out here. They'll radio in when they spot the Commander. That ok with you?". To the Spartan-II it seemed like a good plan.

 **Author's note: Not my best and could have been better. Happy holidays and see you next year...or maybe earlier.** **- _Mr.SmoothOperator_**


	5. Chapter 4

**Shepard and squad 30 minutes after Fireteam Black arrived**

Shepard and her squad had scanned the bodies of the dead batarian and his detail. Miranda nearly threw up at the stentch of the still smoldering brain matter of the turians. Whatever weapons they used seemed to pierce their armor with ease. The scene rubbed Jacob the wrong way, wounding then performing an execution was not agreeable to him. From the evidence, what really caught their attention was the large human handed imprint that was left on the batarian's neck.

The team left the bodies alone after Jenna saw a batarian approaching them. He had armor on and a weapon on his hip. Shepard and her team didn't pull their weapons on him, they were waiting for him to make the first move and instead of being fed grain sized slugs they were given an order. "Aria would like to speak with you."

It didn't sound like a request.

Shepard looked away from the courier and gestured to the dead on the floor. "What about them?" The batarian courier just shrugged. "What about 'em? They'll be food for the Vorcha or the clean-up crew will take care of it but either way you better get moving quick. There's a crowd near Afterlife forming up and chatter going around about hunting two large humans for their loot."

Shepard had her interest piqued and jestured to Miranda and Jacob to follow her. Looks like this might be something worth looking into and maybe recruiting some more crew. As they entered the city of Omega it seemed busy with different races with weapons in hand and claw moving about in armed groups and began heading for a specific location.

"Omega, paradise for the scum of the galaxy. I did a few ops here and everytime I set foot on this hunk of a station I'd wish for a shower to sterilize myself."

Miranda had entertained them with one of her missions on Omega and how she had to seduce a batarian for information. If Shepard had been forced to do such a thing then she'd rather be chained upside down while slowly dying of acid burns than do that. From the looks of things and the loud mumbles heard as the trio passed through the crowds the hunt had already started because a crackle of gunshots followed by intense howls of pain could be heard from a distance and anyone holding a weapon that was not guarding Afterlife was heading to the source. The armed scum that had occupied the front of the club had now dwindled as they rushed for the fight. The Commander and her team took their weapons out from their mag-plates and were about to follow the rabble before being stopped by two people covered in brown rags and hoodies that stood in their way.

The trio stood still and analysed their blockade. One tall man and the other whom Shepard thought were a man if it weren't for her womanly curves to give her away.

The tall 6 foot man spoke and his voice was rough as if he had swallowed sand.

"Commander Shepard, we've been expecting you."

Shepard raised an eyebrow under her N7 helmet and while curious, Miranda and Jacobs were carefully bringing their weapons up to the possible threat before them. The woman of the two-man team faced Jacob and Miranda. They couldn't see her face, the ragged hood was long enough to block anything they could make out. The woman spoke this time, her slavic accent was very thick.

"I suggest putting your weapons away before we relinquish them from you. Biotics or not if we wanted you dead then you'd have had melted skulls the moment you stepped foot from those hangar doors."

That bit of information helped the trio to connect the dots. They now knew that these two were responsible for that disturbing scene in the hangar. Shepard signalled her team to holster their weapons as did she and decided to question them. She had a feeling that these were the people the Illusive Man had told her about. But just incase these people aren't who they really are and are just gung-ho idiots like she expected then she'd make quick work of them. She was fast on the draw with a handgun.

"Are you the ones that the Illusive Man had told me to meet?"

The two figures before her simply nodded. The big one spoke again.

"Did the Illusive Man give you our callsigns?"

Shepard nodded and made an educated guess. The big one was callsign 'Oscar' and the small one was callsign 'Sierra'. She pointed to the big man. "Oscar" she then pointed at the woman "Sierra."

The two looked to each other before chuckling and got a reply from the woman.

"Negative Commander. Both of us are 'Oscar'. My callsign is 'Oscar 1-2'"

The woman held up a fist with her thumb jutting out and gestured to the man next to her.

"This is 'Oscar 1-1'. Sorry ma'am, but the rest of the team isn't here. They were 'supposed' to be hiding. Looks like those two don't know how to stay out of trouble."

The woman glanced in the direction of where the group of armed mercenaries went. Shepard furrowed her eyebrows while Jacob felt a small sense of relief that he got to meet a couple of professional soldiers. Miranda just shifted her weight and folded her arms before scoffing.

"You military types and your "callsigns". No wonder no one gets you seriously."

Shepard just lowered her head and pinched the position where the bridge of her nose would be if she didn't have a helmet on while the two troopers just looked at her. Shepard regained her senses and mentally kicked herself for bringing an uptight person such as Miranda with her.

"Where are the rest of your team? And what do you mean that they're supposed to be in hiding?"

"We were attracting too much attention to ourselves, something no one wants on Omega. Tried to lay low till you arrived but a Krogan got trigger happy. Not a good idea for him because the next thing i knew, our Commander had ripped the plate off his skull."

The man responded, following up on him teammate.

"Next thing we know, shit went sideways and to make matters worse, that krogan was part of the Blood Pack. A leftenant at that. Soon enough a bounty went up and anyone who wasn't after Arcangel was going after our guys. Mind you this happend just before you arrived. We just got here nearly an hour ago too. Not a good start for the day."

Shepard first cringed at the thought of seeing a Krogan's underplated skull but it also surprised her. A person in hand-to-hand combat with a Krogan. That gave her a small gauge of their combat abilities. She was also impressed at the fact that they were able to get in trouble pretty quickly on Omega.

"Sounds like they could be of use Jenna. Hurry up and find them."

Her brother had chimed in on her helmet radio. She nodded asked the duo.

"Mind taking us to your team? We could use some real soldiers."

Shepard turned to Miranda and Jacob.

"No offense."

Jacob just shrugged while Miranda folded her arms, clearly in her 'Dominatrix' mode. The Commander then noticed the absence of gunfire. Something seemed abit off.

"Understood Commander but there's no need."

The one speaking and placed his black gloved hand to where his ear would be.

"They'll come to us, eta 30 seconds."

The duo split off from each other and did a 180 degree turn. The entire group now stared at a smoke screen covered pathway to the inner parts of Omega. In the smoke, two dark figures appeared and as they got closer they grew larger and more detailed. From the mist of smoke generated from excessive pollution and overheated mass accelerators came a near 8 foot tall armored green giant wielding a silver, angular and alien looking rifle in hand that had complemented the parts of his dark silver combat armor. But that wasn't the only thing that made Shepard slackjawed. The monster next to the 8 foot armored rhinoceros was even taller and larger. At 9 foot 4 inches tall, his armor coloured in olive green and silver wielding a larger silver and angular handgun which might have been a shotgun in a normal human's hand. Both behemoths shook the ground with each step and their armored bodies had blood of many colours splattered on their metallic alloy plates. From yellow and blue to crimson they looked like demonic machines. The way they walked to the group was alittle frightening because all they could see were low-tilted, armoured, orange and gold polarised visors looking at them. As the two closed in on the group a shout could be heard behind the two walking tanks and Shepard had heard that warcry before. It was a Krogan in Bloodrage. A Krogan came charging at the largest walking superhuman while screaming at the top of his blood filled lungs. The supersoldier just stopped and stood still before turning around. The Krogan had bullrushed into the Spartan and hit him with so much force that it would have killed any being even with heavy armor on. But to him he felt as though he hit an immovable wall. A wall made of super dense metallic alloy, augmented muscle and unbreakable bone. The Spartan didnt move a millimeter and in one swoop, stabbed his fingers deep into the Krogan's skull plate ripping it off. There was a howl of pain followed by the sound of a body slamming into a wall. The Spartan roundhouse kicked him so hard that the ribcage of the Krogan caved in and pierced his hearts and the impact from the kick had cause several organs to fail instantaneously. The Krogan had died before impact with his brain exposed not realising what had happend or had the time to scream. It happened so fast and ferociously that Shepard and her team felt more cautious of the group. They were feeling nervous of the massive troopers. They looked heavy, sound heavy and were dangerous enough to take down a Krogan in Bloodrage, they had every right to fear them. Hands going for weapons out of fear and instinct but logic told them to hold off on the guns.

When the Spartans reached the group outside _Afterlife_ they looked down. Their stature was purely intimidating. Now Shepard knew what the Illusive Man meant when he said to not be intimidated if they 'looked down' on her. She was going to have a long talk with the Illusive Man and Hackett after this. The tallest one spoke, his voice sounded orderly.

"Lieutenant Commander Shepard, I'm Lieutenant Commander Ambrose. My callsign is Sierra-051 and the one next to me is Gunnery Sergeant Buck, callsign is Sierra-011. Fireteam Black is ready to follow your lead. I assume that the Illusive Man has briefed you on our arrival?"

Shepard was still alittle shocked with her mouth agape. She had just witnessed a man, a walking tank, annihilate a Krogan without batting an eye. He did it as though it were an everyday occurance. The Commander collected herself and slowly nodded before speaking to him.

"Looks like we're of same rank Sierra-051. A proper tactical assessment would be that since you're with me on this mission then you'll be assisting me while maintaining operational command of your troopers. I won't be giving them orders. This ok with you?"

The giant man just nodded. He was close now that Shepard could see him in full detail. The weapon he had was mag-attatched to his hip. His armor was very angular with sharp edges and the blood of those he killed were dripping off the plates as though he were waterproof. The armor plates themselves looked very thick, thicker than any armor she had seen and the undersuit was dark grey with olive green. The undersuit looked like it had scales and a closer look at it seemed as though it resembelled the human muscular system. She was also able to see the very faint glow of what she guessed was a type of Kinetic Barrier but it looked more like oil both in colour and appearence.

Fireteam Black was having a discreet conversation through their sealed helmets. Buck was the first to point out Miranda and Shepard and designated them as quote "fine as aged wine" to which annoyed the team. Kurt couldn't trust Miranda and Jacobs. They may be human but they work for Jack Hopper and being a former ONI agent and now a leader of a persumed 'rogue organisation' wasn't painting a pretty picture. But he was still UNSC and Kurt knew that even ONI looked after UNSC members, even if they had other motives.

Shepard had told Fireteam Black that she had to go into the nightclub that they were standing outside of. She had to get information from an asari named Aria. That named caused the two Orions to stiffen slightly though only noticable to a spartan which caused Kurt to raise and eyebrow and asked them both "Vass, Alison, who's Aria and what's her threat assessment?" they were all having a conversation in their helmets so they didn't need to turn their heads. Vass chirped up "Commander, she's the head of Omega and a powerful Asari. She came to the station with nothing, took down the crime leadership and established herself as the pirate queen. I wouldn't mess with her if I were you, sir." Kurt just smirked under his helmet. He was planning to test out the capabilities of his armor and new augmentations on a biotic but he knew not to be overconfident because that is the lead downfall of many that he knew and learned from.

Shepard and her team entered the club followed by Fireteam Black from behind. They were greeted with booming music and bright lights. The people inside were still partying even though there was a blood bath not far from where they were but maybe they couldn't hear a thing from being drunk, surrounded by strippers, pole dancers or just not caring. They paid no attention to the heavily armed and armoured supersoldiers. As the got deeper into the club, Kurt had to decrease his helmet's audio receivers and filter out the music. The music was horrible and giving him a headache while Buck seemed to dance alittle with every step.

As they walked around in the club a group of batarians apporaced them. This annoyed Kurt and Buck, did every batarian just walk up to you just to insult you? The batarians, 10 of them, tried sizing them up not realising that there were giants with the group. The leader of the band of arrogant idiots who weren't even armored tried to pick a fight with Shepard. He started running his mouth.

"What the hell are you looking at human?"

The way his face looked at saying the word human and how he said it. There was disgust but before he could say anymore he got a reply from Shepard.

"A dead man."

Jacob and Miranda had their sidearms out and trained them on the batarain's leader. The blue dot lasers both dancing on his forehead while Kurt already had his weapon ready to fire. Vass and Alison had snuck behind the group and held two batarians hostage through a choke hold with their handguns aimed at the group while Buck had racked his shotgun. This surprised the batarians not thinking of a reaction like this. The batarians in the chokehold of two gen-1 supersoldiers tried to free themselves only to feel their throats being crushed by pure muscle even more with every struggle. The leader of the batarian group raised his arms up in a non theratening manner. The idiot spoke with a shaken voice, clearly he was close to shitting himself.

"Calm down alright? We'll go if you let us go!"

Shepard had folded her arms and thought for a moment before a voice came over her helmet radio. She recognized her brother's voice anywhere.

"Let them go Jenna. We don't need a fight with Aria from this."

She growled and knew that her brother was right. She ordered the batarian lot to be off and they did with the two commandos letting their prey be released from their grasp.

The heavily armed group made their way through the club before being confronted by a Blue Suns turian. He jestured them to follow him to the VIP lounge which oversaw the entirety of the club. As the group made their way up the steps, armed guards surrounding them with an asari at the top of the lounge, the asari spoke with her back facing them. Kurt had marked all the armed individuals on his HUD and they showed up on Fireteam Black's HUDs aswell. All the tagged targets were yellow meaning that they were a threat until presented with a weapon so unarmed takedowns. The asari at the top was tagged with red, maked for the first to eliminate with extreme predjudice. The voice belonged to the Pirate Queen also known as the Bitch of the Terminus, Aria T'loak.

"That's far enough."

As soon as she ended her sentence the group stopped their advance only to be held at gun point. To Shepard and her crew, they were at the disadvantage of not being able to react fast enough. To Fireteam Black, it was just another day at the office. Spartan Time kicked in and the world around them slowed to a near standstill. Vass and Alison quickly disarmed the mercenaries that had jammed their weapons to the duo's heads and stabbed their unsheathed combat knives into the unarmoured part of their bodies. Buck had kicked the closet armed batarian merc so hard in the chest that the armor bent inwards and cracked while sending him flying across the room before pulling out his sidearm and firing two rounds into the skulls of the two mercs holding Miranda and Jacob at gun point. Kurt himself grabbed the closet merc that held a gun to him so fast that his speed went beyond superhuman. Kurt tugged hard on the armed hand of the merc that the arm was ripped from its socket. He left the batarian screaming in pain. Time had fast forwarded back to real-time and a pissed off Aria was glaring at the group while her body glowed with bluish-purple biotic energy and folded arms.

"Just what the fuck do you think you're doing?! You think you can waltz into MY STATION, kill MY THUGS and TRY TO FUCK WITH ME?!"

Aria rarely lost her cool infront of anyone. The Pirate Queen was always level headed and it wasn't everyday that she'd deal with something like a dead Spectre and some inter-dimensional soldiers. Jenna saw the situation escalating and tried to calm Aria down.

"Aria, calm down. Let's just talk about this for a min-"

Aria lost her patience and launched a biotic throw at the group. No one fucked with Aria. Everyone was launched from their positions and began floating aimlessly in the air except for the two heavy set Spartans. They didn't budge because Kurt had guessed that Aria might try to launch a Singularity at them so he radioed Buck on a private channel to activate his mag-boots just incase. While not what they had expected, they were glad that they had their mag-boots active. In a split second, Spartan-051 sprinted across the room. The metal flooring below his feet bent and twisted from the force he placed his foot after launching himself. Going from 0 to 140mph in a split second was difficult even for a super Spartan like him that was pumped full of Forerunner augmentic cocktails but after reading through about biotics then he would need to eliminate the threat quickly. The biotic thought that with her powerful abilities that she would get a better advantage but before she could react to the moving giant she felt herself being lifted off the ground and could feel herself losing breath and she hung from her neck. A single large hand had held her by her throat and she widened her eyes at the man who's arm it belonged to. She stared not in fear but in anger. Her gaze at the helmeted spartan would have fazed most but not him. All Aria could see was her reflection from an orange, lifeless visor. No sound came from it, as it stared back at her like a silent predator that had melded with a cold and calculated machine.

 **"SIERRA-051 STAND DOWN!"**

Aria tried to adjust her head to see if she could see Shepard behind the mass of armour that held her in a vice-like grip but in an instant she found herself on the ground gasping for air. Seconds later more of Aria's thugs came in and held their weapons pointed at the threats to Aria. She could see the greyish silver one trying to taunt one of her men into trying something to give him an excuse to kill. A second later Shepard was beside her and helped her up.

"Lay off boys. I'll deal with this."

The men disengaged their weapons and slowly left the room but not before Buck gave them the finger. Aria was gonna have to deal with the bigger one in the future for payback but business comes first.

She was helped by Shepard on the couch and she crossed her legs and faced Shepard who was now staring angrily at the armoured behemoth.

"What is your major malfunction Sierra-051?! We need information on Archangel and Doctor Solus from her! We do need her alive!"

That intrigued Aria, every merc faction on the station was out to get the bastard for weeks after heavily disrupting their operations in the forms of sabotage, assassination and just plain robbery. She had heard that he had a group to work with but they were all taken out after one of his own had backstabbed him and his team leaving Archangel all alone at his base of operations with no chance of leaving out of there alive. She wasn't interested in the vigilante. As far as shes concerned it was entertaining to see the other major merc factions working together for once. The doctor was another story though. Former Special Tasks Group and a fucking genius. Opened a free clinic in the apartment district which was part of the Blue Suns turf. When he refused to pay for protection they came to his clinic for some enforcement. Sad to say the ones that went in came back with so many holes in their armor that it made the merc band wary of the salarian.

"I'll give you the details on both of them Shepard. In exchage I want that walking tank of yours."

Aria just glared at the armoured man the whole time. She wanted payback for disrespecting her place in her own domain. But the walking tank just looked towards Shepard. Probably telling the Commander to give Aria a second option which would be to eat a Hardlight-encased, liquid plasma slug. Shepard just shook her head, this was not what she needed right now.

"Thats a no-go Aria. Sierra-051 would most likely tear you to pieces if I gave him to you. Besides, I need him on my suicide mission. If you want him dead then wait till _after_ the mission is over."

Aria scoffed. But then decided to just let it be. If he was going to die anyway then there was no need to waste any effort on this. Aria gave Shepard the info she needed and went back to her own personal dealings.

 **Outside Afterlife (Alison's PoV)**

"Commander what the fuck was that?!"

Welp Shepard is pissed. Couldn't blame her but it was really ballsy of Commander Kurt. Crazy bastard would have most likely ripped her torso off. Fuck, Imma get away from this shit storm.

"Vass! Lets step away from this for abit. Too much heat."

Vass just nodded his head and followed me. We didn't go far though. We just relaxed ourselves on the railings that overlooked the city of Omega. It was nice.

"Crazy shit happened."

"Yeah."

"Never knew the Commander could move fast like that."

"Me neither."

Seeing the Commander move like that. It was scary. Hell, I knew Cat-IIs moved fast but not like _that._ Shit.

I tured my head to see if the Commanders were done arguing with each other and true enough they were.

Kurt came up and said that we were Oscar Mike and ready to go after Archangel while Shepard and her team were going to grab the Doctor. Time to get some hazard pay.


	6. Restart

Hey everyone, I'm not dead I'm just having a hard time right now. The story isn't dead but it wasn't going in the direction that I had originally planned so I'm redoing a few things. It still has the same premise of Spartans and Cerberus but in a different direction. The new chapters would be finished by either new year or first week of January.

Thank you for your patience.

-SmoothOperator


End file.
